Hettir Darasuum (Burn Eternal)
Brief Synopsis:
The Mandalorian Wars have been raging across the galaxy. However, the Republic finally appears to have broken the tide, pushing the Mando'a back towards the Outer Rim. On the jungle moon of Dxun a fierce battle is underway, led by Jedi General Meetra Surik. Meanwhile a cunning plan has been put in place that could finally lead to the end of the war.
Chapter 1
Another terrific sonic boom sounded to her right, west of her current location, worming its way through the dense jungle. She had lost count of the number of times she had heard its roar, coming from both near and far. This one, caused by a mine being triggered by an unfortunate victim, could not have been more than 100 meters away. Even from that distance the sound was resounding: or at least it had been. What had started as intense pain from previous detonations had become a slight ringing sensation in her ears. She could only assume that she was becoming accustomed to it, or the mines were starting to cause permanent damage to her hearing.
She did ponder at times about how much things had changed for her in these past few years. It did not seem long ago that she would have been in the tedious comfort of the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, possibly helping to train one of the younglings there. She recalled one boy, possibly no more than ten years of age at the time, who she had attempted to pass on her knowledge of how bonds in Force could strengthen a group of Jedi as a whole. The boy, Mical if she recalled correctly, had a difficult time understanding the concepts: however, she did suspect this was more likely due to him being a ten-year-old that would rather be doing something more fun. Who was she to blame him?
However, rather than being inside the calming walls of the Enclave, she was trudging her way through the thick flora of the jungle moon of Dxun. She had spent the last three days working her way through this alien landscape with a large battalion of men, fighting for their lives against Mandalorian sharp shooters, the local wildlife and the thousands of deadly traps the Mandalorians had planted all over this part of the moon.
Meetra had lost count of the number of her men she had lost in these past three days. Her command had been already been thinned greatly following the initial, and very long, invasion of Dxun, with these three days simply trying to finish the rest of them off. Meetra was not surprised at the numbers she had lost as she had been well aware of what they were up against. The Mandalorian forces had had years of preparation for any kind of invasion force and the men that were stationed here had likely learnt the land like the back of their hands. However, like Revan, she knew how important taking back Onderon and its moon would be to the war effort. Not only were they a strategically important location to the war effort, more importantly conquering Onderon and Dxun would likely improve morale enormously within the Republic forces. She had heard talk amongst Republic troops following Onderon's liberation about how the Battle for Dxun would be the deciding factor of this war. Whilst they were not completely wrong, conquering the moon would likely help the Republic forces greatly.
"Everyone take five" Meetra ordered to the company of troops with her.
They all needed a moment, however short that may be. Whilst no place was safe, the Force was not signifying any imminent danger at this specific time. She watched around her as some troops took this opportunity to have something quick to eat or smoke, with others taking the opportunity to get off of their feet. Meetra took the time to try and centre herself, something which had become increasingly difficult to do as the Mandalorian Wars progressed. Mediation, in particular, was now a source of frustration rather than a means of calming her mind: a mind that was too focused on the war effort to find any measure of peace and serenity. She could remember the friends in this war she had lost: people she had known for as long as she could remember and others she had made during the heat of battle. She now had very few left and even those few she felt were beginning to drift away.
Revan was the one that sprung to mind when thinking of this. Although as the spearhead of the entire Republic war effort Meetra could forgive her for having little time for her. Whilst not her real name, the title she had taken seemed to have stuck and almost everyone referred to her as such now. Meetra recalled when the two had met whilst both were still Padawan's. Revan had been travelling with her Jedi Master to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. Even at that young age, Meetra already had the ability to form attachments and bonds in the Force very easily with others: but Revan had been something else entirely. It was difficult not to notice her presence. Whilst she was strikingly beautiful, with long wavy black hair, piercing blue eyes, unblemished pale skin and an athletic build; it was Revan's appearance in the Force that had been particularly prominent. It had been noticeable as soon as she had arrived on the planet. Meetra could only describe her as a swirling mass of the Force, all centred on one person: as if a supernova was just waiting to be unleashed from a star. Meetra did not know if her ability to form bonds had led to her attempting to latch on to someone so obviously powerful in the Force, but the two had formed a quick friendship nonetheless.
In person and even at that early age Revan had been extremely charismatic. She seemed to know just what to say to put someone at ease or, more often than not, to get exactly what she wanted out of someone whilst making the other person feel good about it. This had gotten the two into quite a bit of trouble at the time, including an incident where one of the farmers on Dantooine had begun to believe his home was haunted by the ghost of a small Rancor. During the war, Meetra had witnessed first-hand on many occasions how this skill had developed, persuading leaders of Worlds to sacrifice their planets for the Republic, Admiral's in the fleet to give up their commands and countless men and women to join them in their fight. Meetra smirked at the thought. She was on this moon, fighting through a horrid jungle, likely because she had been on the receiving end of Revan's charisma.
She could go on and on about all of Revan's seemingly endless qualities, qualities that had led to a fair few of the Republic to view her as far more than the leader that was currently spearheading the war effort. Many, in particular the common soldiers, had begun to see her as almost a mythic creature. No longer a person, rather a symbol of all they were all fighting for. Revan knew this was the case and used it to her advantage, in particular utilising the mask she now wore as a symbol for everyone to rally behind. Although the mask did hold some personal significance too, and Revan had told her about the Mandalorian woman who had previously warn it and had been killed trying to stand up against the butchery she had witnessed on Cathar.
Those working closer to Revan had developed other kinds of feelings towards her, some coming to respect her skills in combat and her tactical expertise, valuing her friendship and others whose interests were far more romantic. As far as Meetra was aware none of these interests had ever been returned, although it would not be her place to comment especially given her own unique situation. Having looked up to and being good friends prior to the war, Meetra had always held some level of attraction towards her. Revan taking up the mantel to help save lives against the Mandalorians had only strengthened her appeal. Their relationship had become taken a strange turn during the start of the Revanchist movement. It had begun following a battle that had not gone particularly well. Meetra had just returned to Revan's flagship at the time following her first front line battle, meaning she was already extremely on edge. If she recalled correctly Revan had been very frustrated with a portion of the leadership of the fleet, and the battle had been lost because of there unwillingness to follow her strategy. For one reason or another, the two of them had ended up in a heated debate, which had ultimately led to an incredible night of stress relief. They had, on a few occasions, repeated this arrangement but Meetra was never quite sure if Revan had ever felt any romantic feelings towards her. She also did not know if any others were as lucky as she had been to share their leader's bed, all she did know is she did feel a pang of jealousy when thinking about such things.
However, as the war dragged on their relationship had become more distant. At first Meetra had just written it off as a by-product of the war, but now she was beginning to think that this war was beginning to have very negative consequences on them. It was not just Revan, herself or their relationship that she was noticing changes for: other Jedi as a well were beginning to change. Of course it was understandable that this war was going to affect everyone to different degrees, but changes were more prominent with the Revanchists. It made sense to Meetra from a logical perspective. The Jedi were, after all, usually raised in largely peaceful environments where attachments were mostly discouraged. These people were then thrust into a hectic environment, forming seemingly everlasting bonds with comrades in arms, which would then swiftly be ripped apart. Whilst this could change anyone, most of the Jedi that had joined the war effort were still relatively young and likely completely unprepared. Meetra had noticed that the Jedi which had come to aid the Republic with the intentions of defending the innocent, were now fighting to avenge their deceased friends and to wipe out the Mandalorians for good.
Even Meetra had begun to feel herself being pulled ever further down this dark path. Her affinity to form bonds with others had not helped matters as she could feel the deaths of her friends far more so than the average Jedi. It had become so much of a problem that Revan had begun to rotate Meetra amongst different battalions in the hopes of stopping the bonds from forming. However it had been of no use in the end, with Meetra simply forming the bonds too quickly for rotation within the Republic military to be of any effect. Instead she had come to accept the deaths she felt with coldness that she believed members of the Jedi Council would be proud of.
A sudden spike in the Force brought Meetra out of her musings, alerting her to possible danger. She quickly shouted out for everyone to be alert, before informing them to continue their advance. As she looked upwards through the dense trees to see the local sun beginning to disappear as evening set in, she realised that she did not need the Force to tell her that tonight was going to be another very long night.
Another man let out a scream that chilled her to the bone. Turning to her right she saw a powerful blaster shot had hit him in the stomach, but before she could hope to aid him she watched as another shot landed square between his eyes, the force of which knocking his body backwards. A second later, to her left, there was a small explosion caused by an enemy grenade. The three soldiers that had been standing too close to the explosion had not faired well, all dead or seriously injured. The fragments of the grenade sent shrapnel in all directions, including towards Meetra, but she managed to direct them away from herself with the Force.
It had been like this for the past hour. The Mandalorians were using every last weapon they had left in the arsenal, already aware that they were going to lose but also hoping to be involved and killed with honour in a battle that would be remembered forever. The Republic had managed to breach the walls of their main encampment in two areas, only one of which the Mandalorians were currently aware of. Meetra and her forces were currently hitting the Mandalorians head on through the main breach in the encampment, acting as a distraction while the other team had snuck their way through the base. The team of six were working to help however they could, already managing to disable all of the Mandalorians Anti-Aircraft defences. This combined with the Republic securing victory in the air and space around the planet meant that these Mandalorians were now all alone with no hope of retreat. Not that retreat was something the Mandalorians understood, at least for the sake of simply preserving their own lives; rather they were far more interested in taking as many of the Republic soldiers as they could to the grave with them. However, most of their forces were very well protected within the sturdy buildings, taking shots from the small through them. It was making returning fire extremely difficult for the Republic.
Meetra blocked another blaster bolt, this one almost taking her by surprise. Looking slightly upwards and to her left, on the top of one of the buildings, she spotted the slight reflection of a sniper's scope. The Mandalorian quickly attempted to shoot her again, foolishly on their part as Meetra was now aware of their location. Meetra deflected the shot back with utmost precision, killing them with their own shot. The soldier had likely been quite inexperienced when it came to fighting Jedi, or possibly did not expect her to be able to deflect a shot as powerful as a sniper blast back at them.
Another explosion sounded to her left, this one looking as if it had been caused by another mine of some kind as it had been muffled slightly. Bodies littered the floor around where a small crater had formed, but catching her attention was a Republic soldier that stood nearby. Even from this distance he looked young, possibly no more than eighteen although he could possibly be even younger. Meetra had discovered a number of people in the Republic army which had lied about their age in order to join. For instance she had come across a Rodian pilot, an extremely good one, who was only fourteen: two years before the age Rodian's were considered adults. She had come to accept that there would likely be people under-aged, a lot of whom had lost their families to the Mandalorians. This soldier was standing motionless, looking at the spot where the blast from the mine had originated from and the corpses that were littered around it. Meetra would not have been at all surprised if they had been his friends. Gradually she made her way towards him, deflecting blaster shots when she needed to. Once she got closer to him she growled loudly at him, hoping it would bring him back to the present, but he remained completely frozen. Again she shouted and the boy finally came to, looking at her with a look of pure terror.
"Get to those crates over there" she ordered, motioning towards the mountain of supply crates further to their left. She knew he would be of no use in this battle now and hoped the cover would save his life. The boy nodded in response, slack jawed, but still did not move.
"Go!" she yelled; giving the boy the slightest nudge with the Force that almost knocked him of his feet. However, it did the trick and the boy ran as fast as his shaking legs could carry him.
Focusing back on the task ahead, Meetra looked over the battlefield in front of her. The bulk of her forces were currently positioned just inside the walls of the Mandalorians encampment, set up in makeshift cover and whatever else could protect them. In front of their position was a large clearing that was a kill zone, with the Mandalorians on either side secure within the buildings that flanked this clearing. Even though this was the case, Meetra had ordered some of her forces to advance through it on occasion, knowing they would all likely be killed, but needing to use them as a distraction so that the Mandalorians did not suspect something was amiss until it was too late. They had to give the group that had snuck behind enemy lines enough of a chance as they could. Whilst they had been ordered to sabotage where possible, Revan had also given them a far more important task: to capture whatever remained of the Mandalorian leadership. In order to do so their plan had to work like clockwork.
Just as this thought had crossed her mind, Meetra's personal communicator beeped loudly three times. This was the signal that they had all been waiting for, indicating that everything was in place and as a brief warning to Meetra's team of what was about to follow. She watched as the rest of her men, who had also gotten the signal, began to stop firing and stay behind their makeshift cover. Some of them also backtracked from their forward positions ahead of the cover, falling under fire during their retreat. Once the last of them had made it back to cover she signalled back with her communicator with four long bees giving the 'all clear' signal to proceed.
A moment later several muffled explosions begun to sound from around the base. The explosions were largely coming from within the buildings themselves, were the last of the Mandalorian forces were contained. The team that had planted them had done so anywhere they could that could and, from the sounds of things, had done an extremely good job. Whilst the armoured nature of the buildings had made them extremely well protected from outside attacks, it also meant that whatever explosive force that started within would remain contained in their walls and cause even more destruction to anything inside. The explosions gradually died down before being followed by five long beeps: the signal that the mission was successful and remaining Mandalorian leadership had been captured.
The surviving Republic forces let out a relieved cheer in response as Meetra sighed with relief. She had never felt as drained as she did now, the adrenaline which had been pumping through her body now fading away. Meetra took a few steps back to lean against the wall of the Mandalorian encampment, feeling as though she needed the support to keep from falling. Scanning over the remaining Republic forces she could see that very few of them remained, possibly only one in twenty of them had survived the past three days. Her eyes eventually fell on the crates to her left, spotting the boy from earlier slumped, face down, over one of the crates with the scorch marks of blaster fire littering his body. A quick flash of anger made its way through her: anger at herself for not being able to save him, at the Mandalorians for killing him and at the war as a whole. She quickly pushed it away however, likely adding to the mountain building inside her, replacing it with sorrow at yet another young person that the war had claimed.
A shift in the Force brought her focus elsewhere. At first it was a subtle thing, before steadily growing into something extremely powerful that she could recognise. Looking to the skies above the ruined encampment she spotted three ships, two Republic fighters escorting a shuttle, entering into orbit before coming downwards towards the clearing in the base. As the fighters shot quickly over head, the shuttle began its landing cycle: its gear extending from within. The shuttle was worse for wear, with the tell tale signs of battle littering its surface. As the shuttle set down with a clunk, its landing gear sinking into the moist earth slightly, the gangway opened with an almighty hiss as the pressure within equalised with that of the humid air outside. Ominous smoke bellowed from inside, followed by a figure encased in black and dark purple robes and armour, stepping through the smoke with purpose flanked by two soldiers. The robes hid the short, feminine figure of Revan beneath. Meetra watched as she made her way with resolve towards a man that had appeared from one of the Mandalorian buildings ahead. She decided to follow after recognising the man as Captain Hintu, who had led the operation to sneak behind enemy lines and upon seeing Revan snapped to a salute.
"The survivors?" Revan requested, her voice heavily distorted by the mask she wore, giving it a mechanical quality.
"Five Mando's including General Craikk" Hintu responded matter-of-factly, his stern and scarred face pulled into what Meetra assumed was a grin. Meetra could almost sense the smirk that Revan gave in response at the sound of the General's name.
"Very good work, Captain" Revan responded, moving towards the building Hintu had just appeared from. Captain Hintu and Meetra followed, entering the building to find the five Mandalorians on their knees with a number of Republic soldiers from the party that had snuck into the base with their weapons pointed at them. Meetra knew how much their capture meant to Revan and the war effort. Capturing Mandalorians, in particular those of higher rank, was extremely difficult and Revan had tried on a number of occasions to do so, never succeeding until today. Usually they were either killed during the battles themselves, fighting to the bitter end rather than surrendering, or somehow managed to commit suicide if they were initially captured. Craikk had not had the chance to do either, as he had been captured and bound too quickly.
Revan walked right over to the man. His helmet had been removed, showing the scarred and grizzled features of a man in his mid-forties. Craikk appeared to have been blinded in one of his eyes, a scar running across the skin surrounding a cybernetic right eye. Even on his knees, he was only slightly shorter than Revan was standing and Meetra could only imagine how threatening he would appear on the battlefield. Revan simply stared at him for a moment, likely studying him through the Force, whilst Craikk scowled right back at her.
"How do you want to do this?" Revan asked, directing her question at Craikk. The man said nothing in response. "You have two options: either you tell me what I want to know and I'll let you die on the battlefield; or I take what I want to know by force, and you'll be discarded". Craikk let out a long, menacing, chuckle in response to Revan's threat.
"First: where is Mandalore?" Revan continued.
"Dantooine" one of the other Mandalorians drawled sarcastically with a smirk, with the others sniggering at the response. Revan turned to look at the one that had spoken quickly before looking back to Craikk.
"I'm not sure you understand how vital it is that you all cooperate" she answered smootly, using the Force to snap the man's neck with the Force and killing him instantly. The man had not even managed to let out a sound before falling forwards face first. The other Mandalorians grunted various levels of abuse at Revan upon seeing this, except Craikk who continued to scowl at Revan.
"Oh, I think I do" Craikk explained, his baritone voice sounding amused "I'd just rather make you work for it".
There was a moment's pause before Revan responded: "Very well".
Meetra could feel a shift in the Force almost immediately, a warning that something unpleasant was about to take place. None of the others in the room noticed any change, the Mandalorians included, as she was the only one open to the Force: all except Craikk. The smirk he had worn had suddently vanished and in its place an expression of confusion. This was followed by a grimace and a low groan. His breathing started to become erratic as he continued to groan louder and louder in pain. Meetra could now see what Revan was doing: she was using the Force to tear his mind apart piece by piece in order to get the information she wanted. Meetra looked on in shock as her friend continued to rip apart Craikk's very being, feeling the fear and pain rolling off of him, which she could feel Revan was using to fuel the ability she was using even further. The other Mandalorians had begun to kick up a fuss as they realised Revan was doing something to their leader, one of them shouting about her "dirty magic". The dark side of the Force was surrounding Revan now, all of it directed at Craikk's mind. His groans of pain grew louder and louder into a crescendo before all of a sudden they stopped. His expression had grown vacant, devoid of life, and Meetra could feel the same within the Force.
"Captain" Revan spoke, causing Meetra to jump slightly. Hintu stepped forward in response. "We have what we need, call the troops back from Dxun immediately".
Turning to leave, and without a second glance back, Revan killed the remaining Mandalorians instantly without even a flick of her finger. Meetra simply stared at the now dead Mandalorians, unable to believe how ruthless Revan had behaved with unarmed prisoners. She had seen Revan and other Jedi that had joined the war kill before, but she had never seen Revan use the dark side so readily. Looking towards the entrance she saw that Revan, stood still and simply looking at her as if she knew exactly what she was thinking. It lasted a few moments before Revan continued outside. Meetra let out a breath that she did not know she was holding, but promised herself that she would speak to Revan about what she had just witnessed. She needed to know if her friend was still under the mask.
First fanfic I've started in years. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and feel free to review.